Welcome to my blog !
My name is Raphaëlle Simonet, I am French and I come from the city of Mâcon in Saône et Loire. I am going to live 11 months in Taiwan thanks to the Rotary international. I've created this blog to share my experience and I hope to make others want to travel abroad!
Thanks to Mâcon Rotary club, to my high school Ozanam and to my family for making this adventure real.
I'm here
The Rotary international
The organization sponsoring my exchange is Rotary International. It is a non-profit organization which motto is "service above self". Rotary has more than 35,000 clubs in approximately 200 countries. It is taking action around the world to improve living conditions and promote peace.
The program I am atending is named the Youth Exchange Program. It promotes one-year school exchanges for youngs from 15 to 19 years old, in about 100 countries. I will be hosted by three families to take part in the daily life, discover the culture and the Taiwanese language. Meanwhile, in France my parents will host an exchange student for around 3 months.
The Rotary website : https://www.rotary.org/fr/our-programs/youth-exchanges
A few facts about Taiwan
We need to fly 14 hours to go from Lyon to Taipei. And no to forget : Taiwan is GMT +7 (+8 in winter).
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Taiwan is an island of 36,193 km2 (23 times smaller than France) and 23.6 million of inhabitants (3 times less than in France). It is located at the south-east of China, the south of Japan and north of Philippines. Its capital is Taipei, a city of almost 3 millions of inhabitants (intramural).
No, Taiwan is not in Thailand! (Please, stop telling me about my year in Thailand!) It is a republic witch declareted itself independent from China in 1945. Since 2016, Taiwan is ruled by a woman, the president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文in Mandarin).
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The official languages ​​are Mandarin and Taiwanese. And Taiwan is the last country still using traditional Mandarin characteres.
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Most Taiwanese are bouddhists and taoists (90% of the population). The confusianism is also widely present.
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The Taiwanese currency is the New Taiwanese Dollar (1€ = 35TWD/ 1USD = 30TWD).
The climate in Taiwan is tropical. In summer, from June to September, the island undergoes the "typhoons season" with heavy rains and violent winds.
Finally : No, Taiwan is not only a megalopolis which manufactures the world's famous products"made in Taiwan"! The island has 8 national parks witch include mountains, tropical forests and coral reefs. In total about 20% of the Taiwanese territory are protected natural areas!
